roadtrip2008 post #11: headed south
On my last night in Baltimore, I tagged along with Cliff while he went to pick up some food particles so he could drive by my cousin Michaels house. Big hut. He needs the space because he has triplets. We didn't stop in though.
I have remarked before about how the sunsets in Georgia are so different and weak compared to the sunsets in Baltimore. While we were out and about, the sky faded into one of those sunsets I miss so much. I tried to get a pic...
...but it really doesn't do it justice. The whole horizon has this incredible orange glow that vibrates much brighter than you can tell in the pic, blending with a perfect gradient to deep purple, and it lasts forever before it actually goes full dark. Seeing it as a snapshot can never compare to when it encompasses your entire field of vision. Also, I should have grabbed a pic when it was still more orange than blue, but I had to wait til we were parked since I was using a longer exposure. I don't know if its the pollution in the air or the geographical location of Balto that makes the sunsets so different than Georgia, but whatever it is I approve!
Five a.m. friday morning I was already awake when mom came up to get me. I had no alarm to wake me, and also she wanted to say goodbye. We made it a quick goodbye, which was probably best because we were both pretty sad to be parting ways. I had the car packed and on the road by 5:25a.
Something weird happened right away. My GPS took me past the entrance to the Washington Beltway and into DC! I knew it was the wrong way as soon as I passed 495, but kept following the GPS instructions thinking maybe it knew some secret new way, but I ended up on New York Avenue. Let me tell you, if there is one thing I do NOT like , its driving in DC. I flipped a U-turn before I even got to the first surface street light and headed back UP the BW parkway to 495. Dunno why the GPS tried to take me through the middle of DC.
I had predicted I would have to pull over for some slep after I got south of Richmond, but I ended up taking a quick nap just before passing through. My strategy of leaving early enough to beat dc/va rush hour traffic paid off though, and I never travelled less than the posted speed limit at any point.
The rest of the drive was uneventful until I got to Spartanburg. Having been out of town for a while but hearing so much about gas shortages, I tried to stop often to fill up as opposed to running the tank all the way down. Once I got into South Carolina I started to see the gas prices go up dramatically and also started to see stations that had no gas. Coming up on Spartanburg, the Pilot station was advertising 3.67 a gallon which was the best price I'd seen since entering SC, so I took the exit to re-up. The scene was pretty chaotic. The Pilot is one of those huge -travel centers- which has trucks filling on one side and cars on the other, so there are a LOT of pumps. There were short 1-2 car lines behind every pump, but fortunately I only had to wait about 3 mins for the lady in front of me who paid with her card at the pump. I had to go in to pre-pay.
Oh...My...Gosh, it was ridiculous. I would NOT want to be a gas station attendant these days. There were two lines, each about 10 people deep, and you KNOW that means trouble.
A whole drama played out.
First there was the dude who jacked the system somehow and needed a complicated refund or something, which was so confusing to figure out that the attendants just asked the guy to move to the side and wait. He was cool about it though and seemed to find the whole thing amusing. The next two customers went through without a problem. The the lady directly in front of me had some sort of card swiping issue, which took about 4 minutes to decode. Seriously, she was kind of a major pain in the ass. Finally the clerk had to break it down in plain language to her and say "listen, I know that you want to pay with this card, but it isn't going to work because of a problem with the card reader, you are just going to have to pay some other way", in a curt tone that I'd have resorted to at least 2 minutes earlier. It sucks when you are nicely trying to tell people that they aren't going to get what they want and they just don't understand so you have to rain on their parade, but she deserved it.
Finally I stepped up to pay. As soon as I did, some wannabe gangster dread saggy pants interrupts my transaction by telling the clerk that he has already paid, but when he went out to the pump it wasn't turned on. The clerk pushed some buttons, and it turns out that he had entered this guys pre-pay on the wrong numbered pump. The pump he did send it to...well, someone had actually pumped that gas and drove off hahaha.
More chaos ensued.
The clerk tried to argue with the dude about whether or not he was told the right pump number, and in a moment of complete hilarity, the gangster wannabe loudly proclaimed..."no man I am on number 7, ON THE MOPED"!. Yep thats right, the worlds next undiscovered hip hop star was driving a moped. It was pretty freakin funny because this guy was seriously done up like his destination was a video shoot, but he was going t get there at a top speed of about 35mph. Moped is the new Escalade. Only in SC...
Finally I was able to pay. I had been in line close to 13 minutes, and there was now a 3 car line behind my car, and lines behind other pumps were spilling out onto the main drag. Since I was in no hurry, the whole thing was actually very entertaining. Most people in line were pissed though, because they were in a rush.
Pulled into Erics hut before just before 4pm. Approx 11 hours drive time.
I have remarked before about how the sunsets in Georgia are so different and weak compared to the sunsets in Baltimore. While we were out and about, the sky faded into one of those sunsets I miss so much. I tried to get a pic...
...but it really doesn't do it justice. The whole horizon has this incredible orange glow that vibrates much brighter than you can tell in the pic, blending with a perfect gradient to deep purple, and it lasts forever before it actually goes full dark. Seeing it as a snapshot can never compare to when it encompasses your entire field of vision. Also, I should have grabbed a pic when it was still more orange than blue, but I had to wait til we were parked since I was using a longer exposure. I don't know if its the pollution in the air or the geographical location of Balto that makes the sunsets so different than Georgia, but whatever it is I approve!
Five a.m. friday morning I was already awake when mom came up to get me. I had no alarm to wake me, and also she wanted to say goodbye. We made it a quick goodbye, which was probably best because we were both pretty sad to be parting ways. I had the car packed and on the road by 5:25a.
Something weird happened right away. My GPS took me past the entrance to the Washington Beltway and into DC! I knew it was the wrong way as soon as I passed 495, but kept following the GPS instructions thinking maybe it knew some secret new way, but I ended up on New York Avenue. Let me tell you, if there is one thing I do NOT like , its driving in DC. I flipped a U-turn before I even got to the first surface street light and headed back UP the BW parkway to 495. Dunno why the GPS tried to take me through the middle of DC.
I had predicted I would have to pull over for some slep after I got south of Richmond, but I ended up taking a quick nap just before passing through. My strategy of leaving early enough to beat dc/va rush hour traffic paid off though, and I never travelled less than the posted speed limit at any point.
The rest of the drive was uneventful until I got to Spartanburg. Having been out of town for a while but hearing so much about gas shortages, I tried to stop often to fill up as opposed to running the tank all the way down. Once I got into South Carolina I started to see the gas prices go up dramatically and also started to see stations that had no gas. Coming up on Spartanburg, the Pilot station was advertising 3.67 a gallon which was the best price I'd seen since entering SC, so I took the exit to re-up. The scene was pretty chaotic. The Pilot is one of those huge -travel centers- which has trucks filling on one side and cars on the other, so there are a LOT of pumps. There were short 1-2 car lines behind every pump, but fortunately I only had to wait about 3 mins for the lady in front of me who paid with her card at the pump. I had to go in to pre-pay.
Oh...My...Gosh, it was ridiculous. I would NOT want to be a gas station attendant these days. There were two lines, each about 10 people deep, and you KNOW that means trouble.
A whole drama played out.
First there was the dude who jacked the system somehow and needed a complicated refund or something, which was so confusing to figure out that the attendants just asked the guy to move to the side and wait. He was cool about it though and seemed to find the whole thing amusing. The next two customers went through without a problem. The the lady directly in front of me had some sort of card swiping issue, which took about 4 minutes to decode. Seriously, she was kind of a major pain in the ass. Finally the clerk had to break it down in plain language to her and say "listen, I know that you want to pay with this card, but it isn't going to work because of a problem with the card reader, you are just going to have to pay some other way", in a curt tone that I'd have resorted to at least 2 minutes earlier. It sucks when you are nicely trying to tell people that they aren't going to get what they want and they just don't understand so you have to rain on their parade, but she deserved it.
Finally I stepped up to pay. As soon as I did, some wannabe gangster dread saggy pants interrupts my transaction by telling the clerk that he has already paid, but when he went out to the pump it wasn't turned on. The clerk pushed some buttons, and it turns out that he had entered this guys pre-pay on the wrong numbered pump. The pump he did send it to...well, someone had actually pumped that gas and drove off hahaha.
More chaos ensued.
The clerk tried to argue with the dude about whether or not he was told the right pump number, and in a moment of complete hilarity, the gangster wannabe loudly proclaimed..."no man I am on number 7, ON THE MOPED"!. Yep thats right, the worlds next undiscovered hip hop star was driving a moped. It was pretty freakin funny because this guy was seriously done up like his destination was a video shoot, but he was going t get there at a top speed of about 35mph. Moped is the new Escalade. Only in SC...
Finally I was able to pay. I had been in line close to 13 minutes, and there was now a 3 car line behind my car, and lines behind other pumps were spilling out onto the main drag. Since I was in no hurry, the whole thing was actually very entertaining. Most people in line were pissed though, because they were in a rush.
Pulled into Erics hut before just before 4pm. Approx 11 hours drive time.